“UAB took away some of the quarterback runs out there today, but it opened up some other things. I thought he threw the ball extremely well.”

On injuries coming in to the off week:

“We’ve had nine straight weeks. I have some guys banged up. I have two tackles that need to get healthy and have two tailbacks that need to get healthy. Unfortunately, I think I have a couple guards out there that now need to get healthy. An off week is good but you have to take care of business. Biggest thing is I need to get four to five kids healthy to go for that last three game stretch and the off week will help us do that.”

On injuries in game:

“I don’t think anything is too serious. I think John Bruhin hurt his ankle and I know Garrett Scott has an ankle issue. The two tackles went in and played. They hadn’t practiced in about two weeks, but they did a good job. This off week will give them the opportunity to get healthy for this last stretch. Rashad Jackson appears to have an issue with his knee. I’m not too sure about that yet.”

On this game being his best win as Marshall head coach:

“Number one we won. That is the important thing. I think all three phases really clicked. Special teams did great. I think we were plus four or plus five in causing turnovers and that is huge. We didn’t put the ball on the ground and we took care of business on defense. I think it was the best win for me at Marshall.”

“I think he has a toe issue he has been dealing with the last couple weeks, but that is why this off week is so important because he can get healthy and be ready for the last three games. We’re not good enough to go play without practicing. He needs a couple days off to get that toe better. At the end of this week we should have everybody back and be ready for that final run.”

On attitude of Marshall team following Houston loss:

“These kids are amazing. They’ve done everything we’ve ever asked them to do. We work them and get them for meetings at 6 a.m. and they are never late. They are living right and doing the right things. Things are started to happen for them and as coach that is great to see. They have confidence and know that what we’re doing works. They know our plan to win works. It’s just great to have a win like that, especially going into the off week because the confidence and momentum going in is really going to help us as a team. These kids have had a difficult stretch. I thought they responded well, but the season isn’t over yet. Catch our breath for a day or two and get back to work.”

On Vinny Curry’s performance:

“He is a tremendous kid and has a great motor. He loves to play. A lot of these players tweet about how good they are then come out and don’t show it. Vinny just goes out and shows you how good he is. He just shows up, plays and that’s what I love about him.”

“It was huge for us to take the opening kickoff and go down and score. It was a total team effort offensively and defensively with special teams contributing too. It’s just exciting the way the whole team came together.”

On the offensive production:

“It’s huge. We like to sit over there and watch them drive down the field and put points on the board. It’s huge for us as a team.”

On rebounding from the Houston game:

“That wasn’t our best effort and it’s not something we want to be remembered for. We put that game behind us, had a great week of practice and showed it today on the field.”

”We wanted to come out and make a statement. For the most part, we got to keep playing. It was a good game on both sides of the ball.”

On his defense:

“I just play hard and try to put my team in the best position to win the football game. We play defense and defense is played on emotion.”

Rice Players

Sophomore running back Turner PetersenOn the Wildcat offense:“Played really well with it, as it seemed very effective. We would put great possessions together and if the defense makes them go three-and-out every time - it should make it pretty easy for us to run away with the game, but we couldn’t capitalize in the end.”

On Sam’s [McGuffy] leadership and fumble in the last minutes of the game:“Sam is a leader on this team, arguably the best player on the team. It’s very uncharacteristic of him to have a fumble like that. Ball security is a premium and something like that can happen. Unfortunately it was him and unfortunately it happened, but those things happen sometimes. He just needs to keep his head up and remain confident.”

On 2-4 record:“Oh it’s disappointing that we aren’t 3-3 or even better because we feel that we are at least a .500 team, but it’s the way things have happened and we will try to only get better from here.”

Senior linebacker Justin Allen

On defensive strategies against new quarterback [AJ Graham]:“Yeah coming into it we heard number one was going to start and he’s a different style of quarterback than twelve. He is a little more mobile, as I believe he scored twice. We were able to come back and put more pressure on him, like getting more tackles in the back field.”

On zone reads throughout the game:“It’s something we have worked all year. It’s not new and we work it every week. The quarterback made some good plays in the beginning and once we calmed down and got our wits about us, we were able to lock down on it and ultimately shut it down.”

On today’s result and season record thus far:“It’s tough to lose a game that you had won and obviously we can’t make the costly mistakes we had. It’s going to hurt you. We didn’t win the turnover battle today and its stuff like that that is going to keep us from being a winning football team.”

On defensive play the last few games:“The defense has been putting together a few solid games, which is nice. We are starting to gain some identity, as the first few games exposed our defense, but we are feeling a lot more confident now.”

UAB Head Coach Neil Calleway

What went wrong:

“I don’t think we did anything right, offensively we turned the ball over, defensively we couldn’t stop them, couldn’t contain, it’s our job to get them ready to play and we obviously didn’t. We were embarrassed”

Was there anything you felt you could do to turn it around?”

“Change quarterbacks, come ready to play and play. If we don’t do that, it doesn’t matter.”

Senior defensive back T.J. Ballou

On the game:

“Touch loss, everything, offense, defense, special teams…I don’t think we match them in intensity…they played harder than us. In games like this, went things go wrong, they all go wrong…it is the old saying, when it rains it pours. Some plays you look like, how did it happen? It seemed like they were a step faster than us…they got to the second level…its nothing we did and we played hard…”

On the halftime mood:

“We aren’t quitters…we have nothing to lose…it’s like it is 0-0, don’t look at the scoreboard, play hard every play. I think people get caught up so much in a 60 minute game that they lose intensity and don’t play the hard the whole time.”

You’re not bowl eligible, so where do you go from here?

“Pride…you play for pride…that’s the only the only thing left…play for our character”

“Got play out the last four games of my senior career”

Senior wide receiver Nick Adams

On the game:

“Nothing went right…embarrassing…only thing I can say…offense, defense, special teams were bad today. It was one thing after one thing after one thing, everything just went bad today< it was just bad and embarrassing.”

Once you scored your first touchdown did you feel it would spark something?

“Yeah and I thought we would put more points on the board and get some stops but that didn’t happen.”

How tough is it to put this behind you…can you put this behind you?

“The best thing to do is put this behind you quick because you don’t play this team again, this year, but you have to remember it to fix things”

Junior linebacker Greg Irvin

What went wrong today…what happened out there?

“Honestly I don’t think we were ready to play, it may have been the weather, but we weren’t ready”

Did you see things of not being ready?

“Not really, it may have been the cold weather, but no I really didn’t see signs or things, but we weren’t ready”

It kind of snowballed on you in the first half, is that what happened?

“Yeah, defense we started slow like last week plus offense started slow, plus turnovers and not starting them on third down, gave up big plays”

Starting slow, can you put a finger on why that is happening?

“We come out with low energy, this game we didn’t bring our energy”

Did they do anything they you didn’t except or think they would do?

“Not really, they out-executed, they made the plays and got to the balls we should have”

Final thing you’re not bowl eligible what do you do?

“We just keep working and end on a positive note”

Sophomore quarterback Jonathan Perry

What happened out there today?

“Just not saying things correctly”

In the first half things snowballed, is that you feel happened?

“Yes sir, anything that could go bad, went bad. MU had a good scheme and they executed”

Did you think the score in the second half was going to spark things?

“Yes, I tried to mix things up after getting pulled to help my team, but it didn’t happen”

When you came out, what goes through your head during that time?

“I was hurt but I was trying help and be able to execute when I came back in”

Now that you’re not bowl eligible, where do you go from here?

“Just keep fighting, keep working hard. We have some good teams coming up so try to ruin their seasons”

How did MU’s pressure affect things you were doing today?

It affected us a lot, but the pressure made us look other ways and do other things…I thought our line played well but I didn’t have one of my better games”